1560 replies and 7 files omitted.
>>140776"It would probably be smartest idea, if one of you was volunteering."
>>140777The pony in the bathroom raises his hoof to volunteer.
>>140778Silver smiles and nods to him.
"Alright, thank you. Come, let us see if they left communication equipment intact."
>>140779The soldier nods, and the two go through the door, and down to outside.
[1d20 = 18] [1d20 = 20] [1d20 = 10] [1d20 = 8] [1d20 = 4] >>140779>>140780Shortly after arriving outside, Silver is met with the two ponies he sent out in his section, and the Sargent of Squad C
“Sergeant Silver Sword. Nice work.” He addresses Silver
>>140782“Wait, I know this one...”
>>140783Silver sighs in defeat. He takes a moment to read the name on the sergeant's uniform.
"Good enough, I suppose. I do not think changeling would have reacted to that in such manner."
>>140784Hornbeck
"Heh, they'd probably just shoot you. I heard about corporal Dunley. A shame to lose him. We need to secure the telephone office to make it count."
>>140785"Damn right. We were just about to go do that. You three going to come along?"
>>140786"Yes sir." He answers
Silver can see the telephone building not far in front of him in the setting sunlight, with that roof that hangs over onto the side walk. He can see a small trickle of green-rusted blood heading into the side door
>>140787Silver motions for the group to be quiet as he takes point. He uses his telekinesis to open the door from a distance.
>>140790Silver procedes carefully into the building, keeping his head and SMG on a swivel.
>>140791>>140793As soon as Silver peers over around the corner, he feels the sting of bullets, and hears the tattletale sound of a Changeling machinepistol.
[4d6 = 17] >>140794The unicorn staggers backwards out of the building, falling onto his back and bleeding from two fresh new bulletholes in his chest. He coughs and spits up some blood, still alive but barely so.
"Urrgh...bad idea..."
>>140795As soon as Silver falls down, the sargeant behind him yells,
"Cornflake! Pull him back! Sleetfall! Grenade!"
The Sargeant moves forward, and tosses in a grenade. Silver is pulled back by the pony from the masterbedroom, and the last pony moves forward, and likewise throws a grenade around the corner.
[1d20 = 20][1d20 = 15] >>140796Silver groans in pain, both from having been shot so many times in one day and from being ruffly handled while injured.
"Fucking...roaches..."
>>140800>>140796>>140797>>140801What happens next, Silver is not to know. There is an explosion, then another loud explosion. What Silver learns in retrospect, is that the first grenade tossed into the room was tossed back out through the small crack of the door. Sleetfall, the Pegasus, frantically rushed in to push it away with his wings, pushing it away. One grenade detonates loudly inside of the telephone room. The grenade outside is pushed away somewhat down the street. Silver is already on the ground. The pony pulling Silver simply falls backwards on his back, and Sleetfall tumbles to the ground. The Sargeant, however, does not make it to the ground so quickly, and takes hits from shrapnel.
>>140801>>140802Silver hears more ringing, but he can definitely hear a "Fucking hell, you'll pay for that!"
>>140802>>140803If Silver was to ever go deaf, this would be one of the contributers to it. The unicorn tries to roll over onto his side to get a look of what is going on.
>>140803>>140801The door to the office opens with the explosion inside. A private, looks to be Sleetfall, gets up, pick up his rifle, and charges into the office with his bayonet-fixed rifle
"
AAAAHHHH!"
[1d20+3 = 7] >>140805He is going to get himself killed.Coughing and sputtering, and having to spit out some more blood, Silver tries to get his hooves underneath him.
>>140804>>140805Looking inside of the office, Silver can see a changeling drone in Equestrian uniform - no pretense at being a pony, but still wearing the uniform of an Equestrian armorer - starting to get up off the ground. Sleetfall is quick to get up, picks up a rifle, and charges at the drone as if with a lance. By misfortune or by daze, Sleetflall misses his bayonet.
Cornflake tries to get up, and aim his rifle.
>>140807If desired, roll initiative
>>140809Silver jumps up to his hooves almost immediately.
With the door opened, Silver can see there are two drones in the room. One with a rifle who appears to be downed. The other wearing an Equestrian army uniform with an armorer's markings, who seems to be a Changeling non-commissioned officer. He is bleeding profusely and must have had the disguise blown right off of him, but he is starting to get up, and he is levitating his machinepistol. Sleetfall has run right into the office, but has failed to stick the drone with his bayonet.
>>140810Is Sleetfall in the line of fire between Silver and the drone?
>>140811He missed, so he'd be off to the side
>>140812[1d20+4 = 22] [1d20+4 = 18][1d20+4 = 21] [1d20+4 = 16][1d20+4 = 11] [1d20+4 = 21]Silver aims the SMG he got from the late Corporal Dunley, and fires a burst at the changeling.
Tattattattattattat >>140813>>140814Silver shoots true, and a hit, hit, hit, hit, and another hit takes the drone. The bullets create small but noticeable blood splatters, and push his body ever so slightly, until the creature falls back down on its back on the floor, mouth hanging open.
>>140815"That..." *cough* "...is for Dunley..."
Silver slumps down now that his work is done, setting the SMG aside.
>>140816Silver and the other sargent are badly wounded. Sleetfall moves up, and bayonets the other drone. Cornflake enters
"Sergeant? Sergeant?"
>>140817"...which one?"
Even with all of his light grey fur, Silver still looks rather pale. He waves off the question.
"Nevermind, nevermind. See to Sergeant Hornbeck. Just need moment..."
>>140818He moves out of the room
"Yes, Sargeant."
Meanwhile, a form moves up from behind the counter
>>140819Silver picks up his SMG again, and weakly stands up to face the figure. He aims down sights at it.
"Don't move..."
>>140820Silver sees it is the same grey pegasus mare with long braided mane and brown sweater from when he came before. She looks back at him, with both forehooves in the air
>>140821"Stay right there, do not do anything."
He shouts back as best as he is able in his current state.
"Sleetfall, keep watch on this civilian, I need to check she has not been replaced."
>>140822"Yes sir." He says
The mare tries to relax her forelegs and wings, still standing there. She speaks
"I work here." She says in plain ponish.
>>140823Silver steps forward slowly, bringing his flashlight out.
"I know, just please do not do anything until I say so."
>>140824She lets out a breath, and starts to tuck her wings into sweater, still standing there
>>140825Silver gets up to her, and shines the flashlight in her eyes.
>>140826The eyes reflect back as green orbs.
>>140827Silver nods, figuring this was the answer. He turns his flashlight off, and looks at her.
"Alright. Please, answer honestly: are you changeling?"
>>140828Her mouth, in gritted teeth, starts to relax, as she moves her hooves down. She is silent for a number of seconds after Silver asks his question. Then she moves her wings forward under the sweater, and her hooves meet her wings.
"Hail Chrysalis"
Roll Initiative >>140831>>140829The alleged mare pushes a pistol out from under her sweater with her wings to her hooves, and aims it at Silver.
One more element to consider:
[1d20+2 = 15] >>140830>>140831She gets the drop on Silver, firing at him
[1d20}
>>140834>>140831She misses her first shot. Private Sleetfall, standing there with his rifle, fires a shot at her
[1d20+1 = 16] >>140835>>140831His shot hits her, spraying a pattern of purplish blood across the counter
[2d8 = 10] >>140831>>140836She stumbles backwards from the shot, and fires again
[1d20-2 = 11] >>140831>>140838She misses in her dazed state.
After putting his flashlight down to pick up his gun, Silver fumbled. But he is ready now.
Silver's turn
>>140839[1d20+4 = 19] [1d20+4 = 19][1d20+4 = 6] [1d20+4 = 11]Silver fires a short burst from his SMG point blank at the changeling.
Tattattattat >>140840Two firm hits in the chest and a third ambiguously goes through the outer edge of the sweater. Still standing, the green engulfs her to show a changeling drone, who collapses to the ground.
>>140841Silver isn't entirely sure it's possible for changelings, but just in case, he checks for a pulse.
>>140842Silver can't feel a pulse. Sleetfall, however, has his own method, stabbing the changeling in the neck with his bayonet.
"Insidious little crossdressing fuckers, aren't they?"
>>140843Silver internally cringes at the display of brutality, but says nothing of it.
"I was even going to let him live unharmed if he just surrendered..."
He coughs a little, and wipes his mouth clear of blood.
"...fuck, I will be glad when Vale is clear of these roaches."
>>140844"Unharmed?! Do they do the same for us?"
He looks up and back to Silver
"Well, let's make sure the back is clear, and move back to headquarters. Nightfall will be coming soon."
>>140845"No, but it is easier to find where they have taken replaced ponies when they are alive to say so."
He readies his SMG.
"Good idea. We should also do quick check of equipment, see if anything is damaged."
>>140846He is silent for a moment, then answers
"True"
There is a door to the left of the counter, with a rifle next to it
>>140847Silver focuses his magic around the door handle, and opens the door from a distance.
>>140848The door is opened. There is a single low light, and through the open door Silver can see some meters, a couple switch boards, and a pair of tables.
A few droplets of blue blood lead off to the left
>>140849Silver silently points out the trail of blood to Sleetfall, and hobbles forward to take a position leaning against the wall next to the door.
Cautiously, he tries to peak around the corner.
>>140850There, in the left most corner, is a medium-blue pony stallion, looks like a unicorn, sitting and leaning over. His forehooves are tight together, and it looks like he is holding something in, perhaps cloth. His chest visible rises and lowers, and he makes a low wheezing sound. He moves his eyes up to look at Silver, gritting his teeth in a wince
>>140851Silver winces at the sight of the wounded, disguised changeling. He doesn't advance any further.
"We got you really good, huh?"
>>140852The thing looks up at silver, with wide pupils and green eyes. It doesn't say anything, only wheezes out and stares at Silver with that pained grimace.
>>140853"Listen, I am Platoon Sergeant Silver Sword. Now, I do not know about you, but I do not want any more death and violence here, and I am almost certain you do not want to die here today either. I think we can help each other."
>>140855The creature just sits there, still looking at Silver, and still wheezing in pain.
>>140857"Can you understand what I am saying?"
>>140858It moves its head a little higher, but does not respond
>>140859Silver raises an eyebrow at this gesture, not knowing what it means.
"This is not going to work if you can not understand. Nod if you understand what I am saying."
>>140861"Argh..."
He turns to Sleetfall.
"Does anypony in platoon speak or write Changeling?"
>>140863"Hmm...alright. Here is what I am thinking. I will try to get close to him, appear like I am not going to hurt him, and see if I can not keep him from bleeding out. After, we will try to escort him to base as prisoner until we can decide on what to do with him. Think you can watch my back?"
>>140864"That, I can."
He cycles the bolt in his rifle.
The creature's ears go up
>>140865Silver sighs, and trots slowly into the room with the changeling, SMG held in his magic. He slowly sets it down on the ground in front of him, dims his horn, and keeps his hooves in full view of the changeling so he knows he's not trying to pull any funny business.
>>140866As Silver moves closer to the creature, Silver can see under and to the right of the uniform the creature is holding to its torso, the creature's ace-up-the-sleeve, and the last card it has to play: it is holding an Equestrian fragmentation grenade under its foreleg. It's hard to tell if the pin is or is not in.
>>140930Silver stops right where he is, trying to appear as unthreatening as he can be. He points to the grenade, and speaks calmly.
"Please, you do not have to do that. Just...give it here, nice and slowly. I promise, I will not hurt you."
>>140931The creature turns its ears and eyes to Silver. It's eyes are very wide. It has made no movement on the grenade
Roll intelligence
>>140933>>140931The grenade
could require constant pressure on the handle to keep from detonating
>>140934Silver gulps, a little nervous at his situation. He takes a small step cautuously towards the changeling.
"Not going to hurt you...do not detonate grenade..."
>>140935At least there is no movement on the grenade. The creature continues breathing heavily, ears tilted towards Silver and eyes wide
>>140936Silver takes another step, trying to convey as non-threatening body language as he can.
"Just like that, nice and calm..."
>>140939The creature lets Silver close the distance without opposition. Silver is now within five feet of the creature
>>140940Silver smiles at the creature. He points to the grenade, then makes a motion with his hoof as if he was receiving something.
"Now, just...carefully, give me the grenade. It will be okay."